Speakers talked about the importance of community, LGBTQ+ rights, rights of immigrants and immigrants who had been deported to an El Salvador prison, and more.
The protest Saturday was part of a movement of more than 700 protests across the country, according to the Washington Post. Cincinnati also had protests.
Mark Willis of Hall Hunger said people need to understand how Trump’s actions, including the tariffs and small farmers losing access to some federal funding programs, would impact hunger in the Miami Valley.
“People have to understand, as bad as hunger is now, it’s going to get worse,” Willis said.
He said as someone who has been politically active, he thinks the many protests across the U.S. are making a difference. He encouraged people to contact their local representatives.
“It is beginning,” he said. “It will take time. But it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
April Alvarenga, the wife of a man who was arrested March 3 in New Lebanon for a complicated immigration case, advocated for her husband’s release. She said she and her kids are awaiting his return and she’s scared if he gets sent to El Salvador, she will never see him again.
Her husband, Jose Antonio Alvarenga, came to the U.S. in 2015 illegally, April previously told this news outlet. But there was a good reason for that: April says Antonio was arrested for a murder in El Salvador in 2012, and that a court proceeding cleared him.
She showed the Dayton Daily News the large Spanish-language court file, along with notarized translations of El Salvadoran court records, calling his arrest a case of mistaken identity, because the person wanted for the crime shared Alvarenga’s name.
Antonio was the subject of an Interpol “Red Notice,” indicating that he is a fugitive from El Salvador connected to a 2001 homicide, according to a federal agent’s affidavit. Interpol is the International Criminal Police Organization.
The court document translations that April presented say Antonio Alvarenga’s physical characteristics didn’t match the person wanted for the homicide, and that in 2012 he was ruled “free to go, without prejudice.”
But the Interpol website never took down the “Red Notice.”
Protestors who spoke to the Dayton Daily News said they wanted to attend to advocate for their rights and those of others.
Patrick Patton, a Bowling Green University student, said he was upset about the government, but said protesting is a way for people to make sure their voices are heard.
“They are putting their hands all over my education,” he said. “It’s frustrating that politicians on both sides aren’t doing anything.”
Christine McConnell of Centerville said she had several grievances with Trump and found many of his actions terrifying. She began protesting earlier this year against Trump.
“I can’t believe that this is where we are in my lifetime after it seemed like we learned so many lessons,” McConnell said.
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